Washington DC | To hear Donald Trump tell it, the day he returns to the White House on January 20 will mark the beginning of “the golden age of America”. It will be a strong, safe and prosperous country, leaving divisions of the past behind.  

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That is how the 78-year-old former and future president portrayed his country’s future on the night of November 5, when results confirmed his spectacular return to power after losing the presidency in 2020 in an election he termed fraudulent. Sixty-four courts disagreed with his complaints. 

What stood out in his Golden Age victory speech was mention of the word unity, given that the United States is almost evenly (50/50) divided. 

Trump won 77,297,721 popular votes. His Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, gained 75,009,338. That’s a difference of 1.5 per cent. But in the electoral college, America’s antiquated election system, Trump’s victory was sweeping: 312-226. 

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It is no surprise that many of the 75 million Americans who voted against Trump harbour doubts about the prospect of unity and the purity of the promised gold in the new Golden Age. Will it be 24-carat, 14-carat or just brass? 

Trump watchers, whose number is reflected by a growing library of books about Trump (so far, at least 48), include many who predict that Trump’s second term will be as chaotic and divisive as the first. 

And judging from his nominees for cabinet posts which require confirmation by the Senate, much of the new administration’s energy will be spent on a campaign of revenge against critics, many of whom served in his first administration and portray the leader of the world’s most powerful country as a threat to democracy. 

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There are two cabinet picks who will play key roles in the campaign of retribution Trump has forecast in a number of stump speeches.  

Also read:  Trump's FBI director pick Kash Patel targetted by Iranian hacking attack

One is Kash Patel, proposed to become chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The other is Pam Bondi, Trumps pick for Attorney General after his original nominee, Matt Gaetz, withdrew in the face of allegations of sex trafficking and sex with a minor. 

If they survive what will be bruising Senate confirmation hearings, Patel and Bondi will yield formidable power in a retribution campaign. Both are hard-line Trump loyalists and Patel would report to Bondi, a former Florida attorney general. 

One of the world’s biggest criminal investigations organisations, the FBI conducts investigations into crimes and terrorism. But the responsibility to launch operations or bringing lawsuits falls on the Justice Department and its leader, the attorney general.  
Neither Patel nor Bondi are likely to ignore the wishes of Trump, even if expressed only indirectly, as far as targets are concerned. 

Also read: Ex-Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz violated state laws with drug use, sex with a minor: Report

An “enemies list” already exists, drawn up by Patel as an appendix to a 2023 book he published after leaving government service (he held various positions in the justice department and the White House). The book is entitled Government Gangsters and the list comprises 60 names. 

They include top officials of both the Biden and first Trump administrations, from Bill Barr, former Attorney General under Trump and John Brennan, CIA chief under Barack Obama and Mark Esper, former Secretary of Defence under Trump. Joe Biden is on the list and so are less prominent members of the establishment, such as Stephanie Grisham, former Trump press secretary. 

They are all identified as Members of the Executive Branch Deep State. Patel, who is of Indian heritage (his parents came from Gujarat) has been extremely active in promoting the concept of a Deep State, a conspiracy theory claiming there is a clandestine network of government officials who work alongside financial and industrial leaders to secretly wield power. 

While Trump has not as often used the term Deep State as Patel and other loyalists, he asserted in the first major campaign event for the 2024 elections that “either the deep state destroys America, or we destroy the deep state.” 

In the final stretch of the campaign that won him another term at the White House, Trump had frequently raged against “the enemies from within.”  Who are they? Without naming them, he has left it to the imagination of his followers to figure that out. 

“The crazy lunatics that we have — the fascists, the Marxists, the communists, the people that we have that are actually running the country. Those people are more dangerous — the enemy from within — than Russia and China and other people.” 

The prospect of a Patel/Bondi power couple has alarmed Trump critics who have shown concern over Trump’s authoritarian mindset. Katel would turn the FBI into the FBR – the Federal Bureau of Retribution, quipped political analyst Doyle McManus in a column in the Los Angeles Times. 

David Frum, a former speechwriter for a Republican president, George W. Bush, put it more bluntly: “Trump’s nomination of Kash Patel threatens to turn the FBI into an instrument of personal presidential power.” 

This week, at the beginning of the Christmas holidays, Trump signalled that presidential power at home may not be enough.  

He told supporters in Arizona he wanted to reassert control over the Panama Canal, a vital waterway that links the east and west coasts of the Americas. The canal was designed and built by the US Completed in 1914, it passed to full Panamanian control in 1999. 

The threat was a rare example of a US leader saying he could push a sovereign (and friendly) country into handing over territory. The comment caused outrage in Latin America and a sharp response from Panama’s president. 

Analysts closely following Trump were at a loss to explain what prompted the president-elect to show public interest in the waterway. The Panama Canal was not mentioned in a single speech during Trump’s election campaign. 

American voters were clearly more worried about inflation and the cost of living than a waterway many couldn’t place on a map.  

It remains to be seen what actually happens after January 20, and how many pledges – from mass deportations of undocumented immigrants to purging federal agencies like the FBI – are fulfilled. 

But one thing is a safe bet: Trump 2.0 will be a presidency like no other. 

Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.